14 DAY TRIAL // A research has come to the conclusion that mobile dating revenues should pass USD 1 Billion by 2010. Juniper Research has studied this issue and reached the unbelievingly high figure that opens the door to a new promising field for handsets.
Using technology for finding the soul mate is something that PCs proved to be great at, some while ago. It was modern and required the least effort from the user, which boosted its popularity. Mobile phones are converging to PC performances and functions, which also answered to the need of flirting and dating while on the go. It sounds like cellulars had the ground well set for a good start and high potential for successful results right from the beginning.
One thing which has set mobile dating backwards has been that of excessive and confusing data pricing, taking away from its credibility and making this look as less practical than it should have been. Still, this service found its fans across the world, making at this time Japan and India the largest mobile dating markets by user numbers.
The demand for this type of services has been a large one for some time now. "Major brands such as Match.com and Webdate have recognised that customers are willing to pay a mobility premium for 24/7 access to these services and are increasing deploying mobile applications to complement and enhance their existing offerings", said report author Dr Windsor Holden.
"The increasing proliferation of 3G handsets and a mean that companies are increasing confident of introducing converged services at the outset. Furthermore, those companies which embrace such a strategy - such as Flirtomatic - are experiencing significantly higher levels of traffic from their WAP users than from their users on the fixed internet", Dr Windsor Holden further added.
The number of people using such services is expected to rise from little over 40 million, this year, to 260 million in 2012. The strong demand in both developed and emerging markets should be of considerable importance, leading to more than 60 million users only in the Indian sub-continent.